INEQUALITY AND THE STEREOTYPING OF YOUNG PEOPLE BY MAURICE DEVLIN

Transcription

1 INEQUALITY AND THE STEREOTYPING OF YOUNG PEOPLE BY MAURICE DEVLIN

2 INEQUALITY AND THE STEREOTYPING OF YOUNG PEOPLE BY MAURICE DEVLIN 1

3 First published February 2006 by The Equality Authority 2 Clonmel Street Dublin The Equality Authority ISBN-10: ISBN-13: The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Equality Authority or the National Youth Council of Ireland. Design by Language 2

4 Foreword Inequality and the Stereotyping of Young People is both important and innovative. It is important in setting out and analysing a remarkable and disturbing consensus among young people as to how they are stereotyped by so many of the adults they come into contact with. It is innovative in bringing forward this issue in an Irish context and in giving a voice to young people in setting out and exploring their experiences of this stereotyping. The stereotypes of a particular group, such as young people, that are held by a society have an impact on how all members of that group are viewed and treated by society, and on their status in that society. Stereotyping involves the imputation of unchanging and inflexible characteristics to all members of a particular group. Stereotypes can be negative and thus diminish the group. Stereotypes can be positive but end up patronising the individual as they are no more than a group label. Thus young people are deemed to be idealistic and dynamic at the same time as they are labelled as irresponsible, threatening and given to excess. The pursuit of equality involves the pursuit of four interlinked objectives for groups that experience inequality objectives of access to resources, of access to decisionmaking, of access to relationships of respect and solidarity and of access to a recognition by and status in society. Stereotypes and stereotyping, in diminishing and patronising young people, limit their access to any equality of standing or status in society. This limit, in turn, presents barriers to the achievement of other equality objectives. Access to decision-making becomes more difficult where young people s status and standing is undermined. Relationships of respect for and solidarity with young people are less likely in a context of stereotyping. Ultimately this situation can impact on access by young people to resources where they do not have a say in decisionmaking and where they do not enjoy relationships of respect and solidarity. The Equality Authority and the National Youth Council of Ireland, each from their different mandates, have identified a shared concern with the stereotyping of young people by a range of different institutions and groups in society and with the manner in which such stereotyping disempowers and contributes to inequalities for young people. The Equality Authority is the statutory body established to promote equality of opportunity and to combat discrimination in the areas covered by the Employment Equality Acts and the Equal Status Acts. The Employment Equality Acts prohibit discrimination in the workplace and the Equal Status Acts prohibit discrimination in the provision of goods and services, accommodation and education. Both Acts cover nine grounds including an age ground. The National Youth Council of Ireland is the representative body for national voluntary youth organisations in Ireland. It represents and supports the interests of voluntary youth organisations and uses its collective experience to act on issues that impact on young people. It seeks to ensure that all young people are empowered to develop the skills and 3

5 confidence to fully participate as active citizens in an inclusive society. Inequality and the Stereotyping of Young People has been commissioned, supported and published as a joint venture by the National Youth Council of Ireland and the Equality Authority to explore and respond to their shared concerns about these issues. The project seeks to generate and inform a debate on stereotyping of young people and the impact of this. It seeks to identify and stimulate initiatives that can challenge and eliminate the widespread stereotyping of young people and that address the impact of this stereotyping. The research involved ten focus groups with approximately ninety young people. It identifies that, while there are exceptions, the young people involved see their institutional relationships with adults as for the most part unequal, troubled and rooted in stereotypical ideas about their attributes and abilities. Particular mention in this regard was made of the media, the local community, schools, politicians, the Gardaí and security staff in shopping centres. The research includes a case study of the press. It finds that the dominant categories of news story are those portraying young people in roles of deviant or criminal (usually involving violence) and of victim (of assault, abuse or accident). Irish news stories were found to portray young people as being a problem or as having problems. This case study was reinforced by the focus group discussions where it was clear that the young people involved saw the media representations of young people as distorted and misleading. The research makes the case that the media have a particular responsibility to take care in their portrayal of groups, such as young people, that have limited influence and power in society. Inequality and the Stereotyping of Young People identifies significant barriers to equality for young people. A strategy to address these barriers is set out in ten recommendations at the end of the report. The Equality Authority and the National Youth Council of Ireland will work to seek a positive response to these recommendations. We are grateful to Maurice Devlin for his work on this project. He has brought an academic knowledge and wisdom, a practical expertise in engaging with young people and a huge energy and commitment to the work. This has underpinned the quality and potential impact of this publication. We are also grateful to the young people who participated in the focus groups. We hope that they can find their voices accurately and adequately reflected in this publication. Finally we wish to thank those youth workers and youth organisations who so generously assisted in organising the focus groups. Mary Cunningham, Director, National Youth Council of Ireland Niall Crowley, Chief Executive Officer, Equality Authority 4

7 Chapter 4: Stereotyping of Young People in Ireland: 43 A Case Study of the Press Mediating Stereotypes 43 Young People: A Pressing Concern 45 Language: What s in a Name? 48 News Features 52 Just the Way Things Are? 53 Chapter 5: Stereotyping of Young People: 55 Some Findings from Abroad Britain 55 Australia 56 United States of America 58 Conclusion 61 Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations 63 Findings from the Focus Groups 63 Findings from the Case Study 65 Recommendations 66 References 69 6

8 Chapter 1 Introduction This report investigates the negative stereotyping of young people in Ireland. It includes the findings of research into the experiences of young people and their perceptions of how they are regarded and treated by adults, as well as the results of a case study of the stereotyping of young people in the Irish media. It attempts to put the nature and impact of stereotyping into a theoretical context, and presents the empirical results of a selection of relevant research from a number of other countries. On the basis of the research findings in Ireland and elsewhere it makes a number of recommendations for ways in which the negative stereotyping of young people might be countered. The Equality Legislation The equality legislation provides an important context for this report. The Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004 prohibit discrimination (with exemptions) in the workplace. The Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2004 prohibit discrimination (with some exemptions) in the provision of goods and services, accommodation and educational establishments. Both Acts prohibit discrimination on nine grounds: gender, family status, marital status, sexual orientation, religion, race, age, disability and membership of the Traveller community. Both Acts define discrimination as where one person is treated less favourably than another person is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on any of the nine grounds which exists, existed, may exist in the future, or is imputed to the person concerned. Indirect discrimination and discrimination by association are also prohibited. Both Acts prohibit harassment and sexual harassment. Harassment occurs where a person subjects the victim to any form of unwanted conduct, related to any of the nine discriminatory grounds, that has the purpose or effect of violating a person s dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for the victim. Sexual harassment is similarly defined and relates to any unwanted 7

9 conduct of a sexual nature. In both cases the unwanted conduct may include acts, requests, spoken words, gestures or the production, display or circulation of written words, pictures or other materials. Both Acts also prohibit victimisation. The Employment Equality Acts require employers to take appropriate measures to allow people with disabilities to access employment, advance in employment or participate in training provided it does not impose a disproportionate burden on the employer. The Equal Status Acts require providers of goods and services, a person selling or letting or providing accommodation, and educational establishments to provide special treatment or facilities to people with disabilities where without these it would be impossible or unduly difficult to avail of the goods, services, accommodation or educational establishments. Both Acts allow positive action. Employers can take action to achieve full equality in practice for all employees from any of the nine grounds. The Equal Status Acts allow positive action to promote equality of opportunity for disadvantaged persons or to cater for the special needs of persons. Under the Employment Equality Acts discrimination on the age ground applies to all ages above the school-leaving age, which is set at 16 under the Education (Welfare) Act There are a number of exemptions. Under the Equal Status Acts, discrimination on the age ground applies only to people over 18 (except for the provision of car insurance to licensed drivers under that age). Again, there are a number of exemptions. Methodology Apart from desk research, there are two main strands to the research on which this report is based: focus groups with young people and content analysis of media sources. Information about the content analysis methodology is given in Chapter 4. This section gives information about the focus groups. Focus group research is a qualitative method which is commonly used when the research is relatively exploratory (i.e. when there is little existing research into the topic in question) and when it is thought that the group process and interaction might in itself help to throw light on the research topic (Bryman 2001, ch. 16). It has advantages as a method when a relatively natural setting is required which can allow people to express their opinions and ideas freely, particularly members of marginalised groups (Neuman 2003: 396). All of these considerations applied in the present context. While focus groups by their nature pose possible problems of group effects (members too talkative or too reticent, the suppression of dissenting views etc.) these can be alleviated through careful moderation/facilitation. Focus groups can also be useful in the interpretation of findings from other methods (e.g. surveys, content analysis) and they can help to generate questions for further investigation. More broadly, if properly used they can facilitate public participation in the research process (Bloor et al., 2001: 13). There were ten focus groups for this study, with a total of approximately ninety young people. They were conducted in May and June 2005, each lasting between sixty and ninety minutes. The intention was, within the practical constraints and 8

10 the time available, to include young people from a range of types of area and parts of the country and also to include young people with different identities and circumstances. Accordingly, there were seven area-based focus-groups, one of which included several young people who were asylum-seekers; and three focus groups whose members were, respectively, young Travellers, young people with disabilities and young LGBT people (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender). In all cases, contact was established through the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) and its member organisations. Youth workers were asked to seek volunteers for participation in the focus groups. The number of participants ranged from four to twelve. The vast majority were in their mid teens (individual ages of participants are not specified in this report). The use of preexisting groups is now generally favoured in focus group research both on practical and epistemological levels (Bloor et al. 2001: 22). In accordance with standard practice, the facilitators (who were the researcher Maurice Devlin and Mary Cunningham of NYCI; except for one group facilitated by Niamh McCrea of NYCI) took a relatively unstructured approach, allowing the discussion to flow as freely as possible but intervening to seek clarification of important points or further information on especially salient contributions. They asked the participants open-ended questions such as what groups of adults do you have a lot of contact with?, what attitudes do you think adults [or a specific category of adult identified by the participants] have towards young people?, do you think people your age are regarded [or treated] any differently from people of other ages?, and so on. All the focus group discussions were tape-recorded (with the consent of the participants) and in Chapter 3 the emphasis is placed on the young people s own verbatim accounts, with examples both of individual contributions and of exchanges between the participants. All names are pseudonymous. The location of the focus groups and the contact organisations were: Bluebell, Dublin (Bluebell Youth Project); Cork (two groups, Foróige and Ógra Chorcaigh); Drogheda (Drogheda Youth Development); Leeson Park, Dublin (Scouting Ireland); Ratoath, Co. Meath (Foróige); Ronanstown, Co. Dublin (Ronanstown Youth Service, CYC); Pavee Point, BeLonG To and the Irish Wheelchair Association. Sincere thanks are due to all the young people for their time and insights and to the youth workers and organisations who facilitated the research. Outline of Report The following chapter, Chapter 2, places stereotyping in theoretical context and relates it to other social scientific concepts such as discourse, power and inequality. Chapter 3 presents the findings of the focus group research under a number of thematic headings, indicating the ways in which young people in general believe they are perceived and treated by adults as well the particular experiences and opinions of young people with different identities and circumstances. Chapter 4 presents a detailed case study of the stereotyping of young people in the Irish media, with a particular focus on newspaper coverage. 9

11 Chapter 5 gives a summary of the findings of relevant recent research into the stereotyping of young people in Britain, Australia and the USA. Finally, Chapter 6 provides a summary of the research findings and makes a number of recommendations for steps to counter the negative stereotyping of young people.

12 Chapter 2 Stereotyping: An Overview The Nature of Stereotyping Stereotyping is an important concept in contemporary sociology and social psychology, but the word first came into use more than 200 years ago with a different meaning and context. Stereotype, if we look at its origins in Greek and Latin, literally means rigid impression or solid image, and at one time this document might itself have been printed with a device called a stereotype: a plate or cast made from a mould of an original text and used to produce additional and identical copies. In social science, and for obvious reasons, the same term is used figuratively to refer to a relatively rigid and oversimplified conception of a group of people, in which all individuals in the given group are labelled with the socalled group characteristics (Wrightsman and Deaux 1981: 72). The concept of stereotype is therefore closely associated with that of prejudice, which refers literally to a pre-judgement : a rigid and irrational generalisation about an entire category of people with little regard for the facts (Macionis and Plummer 2005: 277). Prejudices are commonly held about individuals of a particular social class, sex, sexual orientation, disability, skin colour, ethnicity, religion, family status, political affiliation, or most relevant in the present context age. Both Positive and Negative Stereotypes and prejudices need not necessarily be negative. Many stereotypes attribute positive qualities to an entire group, such as the athleticism of Black people, or the warmth and charm of the Irish, or in the case of young people the idealism of youth. Often such stereotypes can be seen to romanticise the group in question. While this might seem harmless enough, it still amounts to a simplification of a complex social reality, and in many cases is patronising in tone and disempowering in effect. 11

13 A further point about stereotypes is that they need not only be held about groups other than one s own. People can make use of stereotypical ideas and images both positive and negative about their own group(s) as well as others. On balance, it does seem that our positive prejudices tend to exaggerate the virtues of people like ourselves, while our negative prejudices condemn those who differ from us (Macionis and Plummer 2005: 277). However, to complicate matters, both positive and negative stereotypes can sometimes be held about the same group at the same time. This point has been made by the sociologist Stuart Hall. Stereotyping, he says, is often characterised by ambivalence, in other words by opposing or contradictory images or attitudes: People who are in any way different from the majority them rather than us are frequently exposed to [a] binary form of representation. They seem to be represented through sharply opposed, polarized, binary extremes good/bad, civilized/primitive, ugly/excessively attractive, repelling-becausedifferent/compelling because strange and exotic. And they are often required to be both things at the same time! (Hall 1997: 17) A very similar point was made some years ago by Stan Cohen in one of the earliest detailed studies of media portrayals of young people. A stereotype, he suggested, provides a readily available composite image of a group or category. However: there is no necessary logical connection between the components; they are often contradictory. Thus Jews are intrusive, but also inclusive; Negroes are lazy and inert, but also aggressive and pushing; Mods are dirty and scruffy, but also slickly dressed; they are aggressive and inflated with their own strength and importance, but they are also cowardly. An image rationalizes a particular explanation or course of action; if an opposite image is perceived as being more appropriate to this end, then it is easily invoked. Such images are even mobile enough to be held simultaneously (Cohen 1980: 57) Later sections of this report will show how stereotypes of young people in Ireland today are often similarly contradictory. Discourse: Ideas, Images and Practices In addressing the nature of stereotyping it is useful to introduce the sociological concept of discourse. This concept has recently been centrally employed in an extensive study of community attitudes to young people in Australia (Bolzan 2003). In common usage, discourse means much the same as discussion or debate. In social theory, its meaning is more complex. Drawing substantially on the thinking of the influential French philosopher Michel Foucault (1970, 1972), Stuart Hall offers the following definition: Discourses are ways of referring to or constructing knowledge about a particular topic or practice: a cluster (or formation) of ideas, images and practices, which provide ways of thinking about, forms of knowledge and conduct associated with, a particular topic, social activity or institutional site in society. (Hall 1997: 6) 12

14 The phrase ideas, images and practices is very important. A discourse in this context refers not just to a way of thinking about a given topic (perhaps a stereotypical way of thinking) or to an image based on such thinking, but also to a practice or set of practices (ways of behaving) which are shaped by or complementary to such ideas and images. Discourse, then, has a materiality, meaning that when we talk about for instance the discourse(s) of youth or the discourse(s) of adolescence in contemporary Ireland, we are referring not just to prevalent ideas about young people but to practices and institutions associated with, and in themselves reproducing, those ideas. Discourses about young people are embodied in the schooling system, youth work services, social work and social care services for young people, the juvenile justice system, employment legislation and other aspects of the law, the youth industries such as young people s television and radio, fashion and popular music, teen magazines and so on. In all these cases, there are a wide range of institutions which embody sets of ideas about young people, and practices patterns of behaviour; rules, roles and responsibilities associated with both the young people and the adults involved. Furthermore, and as suggested above, the ideas and practices may not be consistent and may vary considerably from one institution or site to another; or even within the same site (reflecting the ambivalence already mentioned). It is clear therefore that the impact of stereotypical thinking can be profound; it can affect every aspect of the lives of stereotyped individuals and groups, a point which will be returned to below. Relationships The precise nature of any stereotype, and its impact, will depend largely on the social and cultural context in which it is used, and especially on the type of relationship that exists between those being stereotyped and those doing the stereotyping (and the stereotyping can, in turn, then further influence the relationship). A prominent British sociologist, noting that all human thinking and all human relations involve some degree of classification or categorisation, has given the following example: Stereotypical thinking may be harmless if it is neutral in terms of emotional content and distant from the interests of the individual[s] concerned. The British may have stereotypical views of what the Americans are like, for example, but this might be of little consequence for most people of either nationality. (Giddens 1993: 256) This is probably because the British and Americans, at a political and societal level, have come to regard each other as friends, allies and equals, with many more common interests than antagonistic ones. Stereotyping tends to have a very different complexion, and to be of more consequence in Giddens terms, when the parties involved have an inequitable relationship: that is, when one has substantially more power than the other. In such circumstances, stereotyping may reflect the power of one group to create and apply labels to another group; a process which may not work equally in reverse. 13

15 Labels and Language Labels and stereotypes like all communication rely on language of one kind or another. Language operates as a representational system. In language, we use signs and symbols whether they are sounds, written words, electronically produced images, musical notes, even objects to stand for or to represent to other people our concepts, ideas and feelings. Language is one of the media through which thoughts, ideas and feelings are represented in a culture. Representation through language is therefore central to the processes by which meaning is produced. (Hall 1997: 1) This reference to the processes by which meaning is produced is very important, and draws our attention to the social - and political significance of language. In fact, it has been argued that language is the social institution above all others: Language is both the foundation and the instrumentality of the social construction of reality. Language focalizes, patterns and objectivates individual experience. Language is the principal means by which an individual is socialized to become an inhabitant of a world shared with others It is useful to remind oneself of the linguistic base of all social order because language makes particularly clear what is meant by the social construction of an objectively real world. (Berger 1971: 108) This view has been taken up by writers in critical linguistics who regard language not just as a verbal and grammatical system but as an institution, a vehicle and a symbol for the social structure a realization of the power structure of a society (Halliday 1978: 181). From this perspective, language simultaneously performs ideational functions (communicating information, ideas, thoughts and opinions) and interpersonal functions (expressing and sustaining relations between or among individuals and groups). [A third, textual function, need not concern us here.] For example, a bullying adult manager hurling verbal abuse at a younger employee is both expressing ideas or opinions and enacting a particular kind of unequal relationship. One important aspect of language which illustrates how these ideational and interpersonal functions overlap is lexicalisation. This is simply the existance of a word for a concept and of sets of words for families of concepts (Fowler 1986: 151). In any one language and in any one society or culture, there may be relatively few or relatively many words referring to a given phenomenon. Overlexicalisation is the availability, or the use of, a profusion of terms for an object or concept (Fowler 1986: 154), and it tends to occur where there is a particular social or cultural preoccupation with the object or concept in question, or where a particular category or group is regarded as highly distinctive or different. For instance, in English there is a proliferation of words for designating females as compared with males, and many of them are pejorative. Roger Fowler argues therefore that lexicalisation is an integral part of the reproduction of ideology, and the basis of discriminatory practice when dealing with so-called groups of people as women, young people, ethnic minorities and so forth (1991: 84-85). Language, as 14

16 already suggested, can be the basis not just for communicating ideas but for expressing and sustaining unequal social relations. It is for this reason that Pierre Bourdieu, one of the most influential sociologists of the late 20th century, issued the following exhortation: The social sciences must examine the part played by words in the construction of reality and the contribution which the struggle over classifications, a dimension of all class struggles, makes to the constitution of classes classes defined in terms of age, sex or social position, but also clans, tribes, ethnic groups or nations By structuring the perception which social agents have of the social world, the act of naming helps to establish the structure of the world, and does so all the more significantly the more widely it is recognized, i.e. authorized. (Bourdieu 1991: 105) Stereotyping and Inequality It should be clear by now that stereotyping is most prevalent and most significant in the context of social inequalities. History including Irish history contains numerous examples which bear this out. Stuart Hall (1997) has conducted a detailed analysis of the ways in which stereotyping has been used historically by White people (including colonisers and slave owners) to construct and sustain ideas of racial difference, resulting in what he calls a spectacle of the Other which represents Black people as lazy, servile, childish, untrustworthy and unreliable, and so on. He stresses, however, that his main points about the process and dynamics of stereotyping could equally be applied in many instances to other dimensions of difference, such as gender, sexuality, class and disability (Hall 1997: 225). He might well have added age to this list. Hall suggests that stereotyping commonly involves the two related strategies of essentializing and naturalizing differences. The first of these refers to the way in which stereotypes reduce the members of a social group to some supposed essence (such as the examples just given: laziness, untrustworthiness etc). The second suggests that these qualities are absolutely inherent, naturally built into the characters or personalities of the stereotyped, and therefore, of course, not amenable to change. This notion has obvious advantages for those holding the stereotypical views: existing unequal relations can be sustained, and further thought is unnecessary. As a well-known Irish study has put it, stereotypes such as these rationalize prejudice and discrimination and suit our lethargic minds. (Mac Gréil 1977: 99) This latter point draws attention to one of the most important ways in which stereotyping has an impact on the stereotyped: it can result in, and be used to justify, discriminatory practices. For example, the idea that a woman s place is in the home (based on stereotypical notions about the essential and natural differences between men and women) has in the past been used to support the idea that women s participation in the paid workforce is of lesser value than men s, or even to question their entitlement to be there at all; and this has been reflected in differential wages, conditions of employment and 15

17 opportunities for advancement. This idea of women s place continues to exert an influence over policy and law (Tovey and Share 2003: 200). Women s participation in public life in general (not just the paid workforce) has been hindered by stereotypical thinking and the discriminatory practices associated with it. Stereotyping can also have a further impact, as when prejudicial ideas lead to (or are used to justify) a profound lack of respect for, or even violence against, the members of a given group. The depth and scope of the impact of stereotyping are such that it is a significant barrier to the achievement of equality. An Equality Focus The Equality Authority has adopted a framework for equality based on work done by the National Economic and Social Forum with the support of the Equality Studies Centre at University College Dublin. This framework consists of four equality objectives: Redistribution Concerned with the economic sphere and the equal distribution of resources. This equality objective focuses on access to jobs, income and economic development and on access to education, health and accommodation. Representation Concerned with the political sphere and the generation of capacity and systems to ensure equal representation and participation in decision-making. This equality objective focuses on access to decision-making and shaping one s own community and the institutions a person is involved in. Respect Concerned with the affective, caring and emotional sphere and with generating the opportunities for all to develop their full emotional potential and allowing people to support each other and care for each other, particularly when vulnerable. This equality objective focuses on access to relationships of love, care, respect and solidarity. Recognition Concerned with the cultural sphere and with equality in facilitating an exploration and affirmation of all identities. This equality objective focuses on access to status and a valuing and an accommodation of difference. These four objectives are regarded as being interlinked, with each one of them shaping and informing the others; but also as capable of being addressed in their own right for the purposes of action and/or analysis. The act of stereotyping (as opposed to its impact) most obviously relates to recognition and cultural equality. The Equality Authority has previously drawn attention to the persistence of negative stereotyping in this society (of Black and minority ethnic communities and of women respectively); and highlighted in particular the importance of the media as well as of educational, cultural and commercial organisations in reproducing and sustaining such stereotypes and by the same token in potentially challenging and changing them (Building an Intercultural Society and Towards a Vision for a Gender Equal Society). Both these documents also stress the diversity of the groups in question (which is of course precisely what stereotypes ignore): 16

18 No person is simply defined, nor is any community homogeneous. An individual s experience of racism is informed by a multiplicity of factors, including gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability and marital or family status. (Equality Authority, Building an Intercultural Society) Stereotyping diminishes the status of the group that is being stereotyped. It limits the potential for a valuing of the group s difference and for any action to make adjustments to take this difference into account. Stereotyping can damage the relationships between the stereotyped group and other groups in society as false assumptions rather than realities serve as the basis for relating. Access to decision making is hindered where stereotyping presents a barrier to the voice of the stereotyped group being given an adequate hearing. This in turn can limit access to resources where the stereotyped group has little say in decisions on how resources are distributed and on the terms on which resources are made available. 17

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20 Chapter 3 Young People s Perspectives The previous chapter defined a stereotype as a relatively rigid and oversimplified conception of a group of people, in which all individuals in the given group are labelled with the socalled group characteristics (Wrightsman and Deaux 1981: 72). It was suggested that stereotypes can be both positive and negative (and sometimes ambivalent, in other words both positive and negative simultaneously). It was also suggested that stereotypes are most prevalent, and most damaging, in the context of unequal relationships between different groups. Stereotypes can have a very negative impact on the lives of those being stereotyped because the prejudicial ideas on which they are based frequently result in, and reinforce, discriminatory practices; and because these ideas and practices can be seen at work across all the main aspects of people s lives. Later chapters of this report provide some empirical evidence of the stereotyping of young people in Ireland and elsewhere. In this chapter the emphasis is on the experiences, opinions and voices of young people themselves. Based on ten focus group discussions in different parts of the country and with a variety of types of group (as outlined in Chapter 1), it presents young people s responses to relatively open-ended questions about the groups of adults they have regular contact with, the ways they think they are perceived and treated by adults, and their general views on relationships between adults and young people. The facilitators of the focus groups did not labour the concept of stereotyping itself, although it was introduced in some discussions, sometimes by the young people themselves. The key purpose of the focus groups was to facilitate the young people to speak in and on their own terms. There is little doubt, however, that what the young people described, whatever the terminology used, amounts in many cases to stereotyping as defined in this publication. The themes and categories which emerged in the discussions were: the media, the local community, the Gardaí, shopping centres and security staff, 19

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! Their stories are tragic. A new chapter starts now. now.! Bully is a movie that tells powerful stories about children and their families dealing with extreme pain and tragic consequences related to bullying.

Equality and Diversity Policy Introduction 1 Our aim is to be a fair regulator, and a fair employer. Our Equality and Diversity Strategy explains more about how we are trying to meet this aim. 2 We have

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Equality and Diversity Policy Author: Deputy Director of HR Version Number: V.2.00 Date: 27/01/11 Approval and Authorisation Completion of the following signature blocks signifies the review and approval

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Equality and diversity glossary of terms Term Authority Belief Black & Minority Ethnic British Sign Language BSL Commission / s / ing Community Communities of interest Community Sector Council County Council

Dialog: VIP LESSON 049 - Future of Business A: We really embarrassed ourselves last night at that business function. B: What are you talking about? A: We didn't even have business cards to hand out. We

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WORKSHEET ONE FIRST ACTIVITY Have the group brainstorm what they think it means to treat other people with. Write the answers on the whiteboard, if it helps use this list on the worksheet as a guide. List

Bullying and Harassment at Work Policy i) Statement Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect at work, irrespective of their status or position within the organisation. Bullying and harassment

A guide for employers Contents 01 Contents A guide for employers 02 Discrimination the new law explained 05 Other relevant legisltation 13 02 The Equality Act 2010 and cancer how it affects you A guide

Promoting Equality and Diversity in Volunteering A Guide for Volunteer Involving Organisations Content. Page What do we mean by equality of opportunity and diversity? 3 Why is promoting equality and diversity

Types of discrimination: definitions and examples Introduction When raising a behaviour related grievance, either informally or formally, employees may use terms such as discrimination or harassment. It

Toll Bar Primary School Equality Policy January 2015 This policy was reviewed and adopted by Toll Bar Governing Body on 24 th March 2015 Signed:... Signed:... (Headteacher) (Governor) This policy is due